Lockwood, Belva, Visits Lincoln, 1885

The presidential election of 1884 was a
memorable one. Democrat Grover Cleveland narrowly defeated Republican
James G. Blaine after a scandal-filled campaign. The National
Equal Rights Party, composed of woman suffragists, nominated
Belva Lockwood of Washington, D.C., a lawyer and in 1879 the
first woman admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
She was again nominated for president in 1888.

On January 31, 1885, Belva Lockwood arrived
in Lincoln to deliver a scheduled lecture that evening. The following
day the Nebraska State Journal carried a front-page interview
in which Mrs. Lockwood briefly explained to Nebraskans her lecture
activities, legal education and career, and her participation
in the 1884 presidential campaign.

"The [Journal] reporter opened
the interview by asking Mrs. Lockwood how long she had been in
the lecture field. 'I hardly know how to answer that,' was the
reply. 'I am a professional woman and I have done more or less
public speaking since I was fourteen years of age. I am interested
in the temperance work, the peace and arbitration movement and
the suffrage work, and I speak frequently on all these subjects
. . . .

"'How long have you been practicing law?' 'I was admitted
to the bar in Washington about twelve years ago. I graduated
at Genesee college, New York, and graduated from the National
University of Law at Washington, May, 1873, and in September,
1873, was admitted to practice. . . . .

"'What progress do you think woman's suffrage is making?'
'I believe the agitation of the question has borne fruit and
that it is now making a healthy, steady growth from a standpoint
of practicality. More especially in the West I find women in
many positions which they have not hitherto been allowed to fill.
. . .

"'What have you to say of the late
presidential contest?' 'Of course, we don't expect to accomplish
anything by this [her 1884 try for the presidency] except to
test the question. We want to get the question out of the realm
of the vague and indefinite and theoretical and into the domain
of the practical.'"